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Trump has amassed more than 15 million followers on TikTok since he joined last year. Photo: TNS
United States

US President Trump delays US’ TikTok ban again: ‘deadline purgatory’

It is not clear how many times Trump can keep extending the ban as the government continues to try to negotiate a deal for TikTok.

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E-commerce

Meituan keeps tight grip on 70% of food delivery market in China, report says

TikTok

TikTok’s fate still in limbo as Trump extends deadline to sell its US operations

JD.com

JD.com founder bets on stablecoins to cut cross-border e-commerce payment costs

‘JD.com intends to secure stablecoin licences across key currency markets globally,’ founder and chairman Richard Liu says.

E-commerce giant JD.com expects stablecoins to become the world’s next-generation payment system. Photo: Shutterstock
US-China relations

Trump to extend TikTok deadline again, giving ByteDance 90 days to find buyer

The US president ‘does not want TikTok to go dark’, the White House says, as Trump prepares to put off a threatened ban for the third time.

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Hong Kong society

Opinion | No way should Hong Kong bail out taxi licence holders

Their cause was lost the moment they treated a public transport permit as a tradeable asset. Government is right to focus on public interest.

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Huawei

‘Watershed moment’: how Huawei’s HarmonyOS flourished in China amid US sanctions

Nearly half of smartphones and tablets running the Chinese tech giant’s Android alternative were shipped in 2024.

Huawei launched its latest HarmonyOS devices, the Pura 80 series smartphones, on June 11. Photo: Reuters
Tencent

Tencent Music to buy Ximalaya, an audio app used by 300 million users

Ximalaya, a platform for podcasts, audiobooks and music, could enhance Tencent Music’s competitiveness in the audio content market.

TikTok

TikTok adds 500 UK jobs in expansion as US fate remains uncertain

A new 135,000 sq ft office is set to open in early 2026, as the ByteDance subsidiary expands in Europe amid looming US sell-or-ban deadline.

ByteDance

ByteDance’s China head of content quality leaves amid stricter censorship

Li Tong, who led Douyin’s content quality team, is no longer listed in ByteDance’s internal employee system, according to sources.

The building of Douyin Group in Chengdu, Sichuan province, seen on March 11, 2024. Photo: Shutterstock
United States

Pentagon watchdog probes if Hegseth aides deleted leaked Signal chat messages

The request comes as the US Defence Secretary is scheduled to testify before Congress next week, facing questions about his handling of sensitive information.

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US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth. Photo: Reuters
ByteDance

Douyin users in Hong Kong swell to 40% of city’s population: report

Douyin’s high adoption rate in Hong Kong reflects a broader trend among China’s Big Tech firms to expand services beyond the mainland market.

E-commerce

Alibaba, JD.com sales surge during 618 festival, thanks to subsidy programme

Preliminary data shows Apple, Xiaomi, Huawei, Midea and Haier each rang up sales of over US$13.9 million on the two shopping platforms.

Music

‘What is music?’ Spotify founder wants us to embrace AI song creation

Answering claims that Spotify is pushing AI-created music onto playlists, CEO and founder Daniel Ek talks about how AI improves creativity.

Spotify founder and CEO Daniel Ek says people should not be afraid of AI in music, but should make the most of its creative potential. Photo: AP
E-commerce

PDD faces profit challenge amid Trump tariffs, domestic e-commerce competition

‘Macroeconomic uncertainties and significant investments in the ecosystem’ are expected to continue affecting PDD’s earnings outlook, UBS analysts say.

Changes in US trade policies have created significant pressure for merchants on PDD Holdings’ Temu shopping platform. Photo: Shutterstock
Artificial intelligence

ByteDance upgrades Doubao AI app with real-time interactive video call function

The chatbot can now serve as a real-time interactive docent during a museum tour and an analyst when studying charts, graphs or videos.

Alibaba

Alibaba’s Amap offers ride-hailing function catering to China’s foreign visitors

Amap’s ride-hailing feature, available on the platform’s English version, reflects support for China’s visa-free travel scheme.

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France

France arrests 55 men in Telegram paedophile ring crackdown

The suspects, aged 25 to 75, include a priest, a paramedic and a music teacher.

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The arrests follow a 10-month investigation. Photo: Reuters
Hong Kong workers/labour rights

Keeta riders stage third strike in Hong Kong over pay, work conditions

More than 100 riders gather in busy areas of Hung Hom and Central, following smaller-scale protests in Tsuen Wan and Mei Foo earlier this month.

Alibaba

Alibaba lands US$250 million convertible bonds deal with selfie app giant Meitu

The strategic collaboration is expected to serve as ‘the foundation of a long-term partnership’ between Meitu and Alibaba.

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Artificial intelligence

China accuses ‘AI tigers’ Zhipu, Moonshot of collecting excessive data

Zhipu’s ChatGLM and Moonshot’s Kimi have a combined total of nearly 35 million monthly active users.

Zhipu AI CEO Zhang Peng speaks on stage during the company’s developers’ day in Beijing in January 2024. Photo: Sohu/AGI元年
Science

China makes first 5G satellite-to-phone video call. Will it defy TikTok curbs?

Breakthrough enabling streaming video content directly to phones via satellites would face significant regulatory, technology hurdles, experts say.

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The technology that allowed a satellite-to-smartphone broadband video call using 5G standards could theoretically enable streaming video content directly to phones via satellites, but it faces significant hurdles. Photo: Shutterstock
Ant Group

Ant Group’s global unit pulls in US$3 billion in revenue ahead of spin-off

Ant International could fetch an IPO valuation of between US$8 billion to US$24 billion if it lists in Hong Kong, analysts say.

Wellness

How social media can be terrible for teens and the people fighting back

Phone and social media use have led to a youth mental health crisis and transformed teens’ lives but schools and governments are stepping in.

Tencent

How AI investments are paying off for Chinese tech conglomerate Tencent

Tencent CEO Pony Ma says strategic AI investments ‘create value for users and society’, while generating substantial returns for the firm.

Tencent Holdings’ artificial intelligence capabilities have made tangible contributions to its businesses. Photo: Shutterstock
Tourism

Airbnb now offers in-home chefs, massages alongside home stays

‘Who doesn’t want a quesadilla in bed?’ Airbnb’s chief executive does. Its newly updated app offers users options to book in-home services.

Airbnb co-founder and CEO Brian Chesky describes the addition of services to the platform as “giving you the best of both worlds”. Photo: AFP
Artificial intelligence

Alibaba’s Quark, China’s most popular AI app, launches ‘deep search’

The upgrade combines the reasoning capabilities of AI models with online search to answer complex user queries.

Alibaba

Alibaba teams up with social media platform RedNote in fresh e-commerce push

The cross-platform alliance allows consumers to find products via RedNote, which redirects them to buy the goods on Taobao and Tmall.

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